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J. W. MILES IN AND our MACHINE Filed. Feb. 23, 1924 6 Sheets-Sheet l April 3, 192's.

1,664,523 J. W. MILES IN AND OUT MACHINE Filed Feb. 23. 1924 6 Sheets-Sheet 2 April 3, 1928. 1,664,523

J. w. MILES IN AND OUT MACHINE Filed Feb. 23. 1924 6 Sheets-Shet 5 awwewto'c J. W. MILES IN AND OUT MACHINE s Shets-Sheet 4 Filed Feb. 23, 1924 11 41A; abhor am d April 3, 1928; t

Y J. W. MILES IN AND OUT MACHINE Filed Feb. 23, 1924 6 Sheets-Sheet 5 I 8% WW April 3,1928.

J. W. MILES IN AND OUT MACHINE 6 Sheets-Sheet 6 Filed Feb. 23, 1924 WEEK ENDING May 51923 E M m W O R W. F A

" MORNING 1/1 ill/1 I Patented Apr. 3, 1928.

PATENT OFFICE;

UNITED wsanas- JOSEPH.WILLI AM MILES, .OF LONDON, ENGL.AND, ASSIGNOR TO TEBNATIONAL TIME RECORDING COMPANY OF NEW YORK, OF ENDICOTT, NEW YORK, A CORPORATION OF NEW YORK.

mnn-oU'r MACHINE.

Application filed FebruaryZB, 1924, Serial No. 694,525, and in' Great Britain August. 8, 1923.

This invention relates to time-recorders of the kind which records the time of entry or exit on separate cards, of which there is one for each employee, each card being inserted singly and a handle operated to record the time.

Successive entries and. exits must be. recorded in the correct places on the cards, and attempts have beenmade to ensure this by providing a shifting mechanism operated either-manually by means of a pointer working over a dial, or automaticallyfrom the clock. In the first case,.however, the risk ofpersonal error was always present,and in the second case the automatic operation didnot provide for employees entering and leaving at the same time or at overlapping times.

The present invention provides means whereby the successive. times of entering and leaving arevautomatically recorded in their correct positions on the card without any attention on the part of the employee and without regard to the time of day previous to the end of a daily time period at whichthe successive recording operations are performed.

According to the present invention controlling means are providedwhich comprise means for punching a hole in the card during each tin'ie-rcc'ording operation, a .series of lingers or feelers co-operating with the card in such av manner as to be selectively located by the holes punched in the card, and card positioning means co-operatingwith the selectively located feelers whereby the card is brought into a different predeterminedposition at each time-recording operation.

Conveniently the fingers or feelers, which may be pivoted spring-pressed feelers, are mounted on a movable card-carriage and an actuator, operatively connected to the hand-lever of the time recorder, is caused to move in a path which missesthose fingers or feelers not engaged with holes in the card but which encounters the fingersor feelers:

engaged with the hole last punched.

In order to prevent operation of the timerccorder when a. card placed therein has the full number of time records for the day (or other period) impressed thereon, there is preferably provided a latch operatively connected with the last of the series of tingers or feelers in such a manner that said latch ismoved into position to prevent operation of the time-recorder when the saidjlast finger .01. ,fceler is located ina punched hole in the card.

Since the fingers or feelers must be exactly in register with the holes in the card, and therefore exactly in the pathof the punch, meansvare provided for moving each finger or, feeler in turnout of the path of the punch. Such means preferably comprise a ,stop'in the path of the fingers or feelers so disposedas to be missed by the-fingers or feelers. already engaged in holes in the card but to be encountered by thegfirst 0f the fingersor feelers notso. engaged, and thereby to move it a sufficient distance .to clear the punch.

I have illustrated a practical form of my .inventionin the, accompanying drawings, in which Fig 1 is a front vie-Wot the machine,

Fig. 2 is, a side view showing certain of the .operating ,cams, thisv view beingtaken substantially on lines 2,2of Fig lrlooking ,in the direction of the arrow,

Fig. 3. is a viewof theparts-shown in Fig. 2 showing same in moved position,

Fig. 4 is a detail sectional view taken substantially .on lines-.H of Fig. 1. showing the platen and punch actuating mechanism,

1 Fig. 5 shows some of the same parts of the .machine in moved position,

Fig. 6 is a sectional view taken on line 6+6 of Fig. 1 showingthepunching mechanism'and the selecting mechanism-for controlling, the extent of. lateral shift of the card,

Fig. 7 shows the same parts in moved position,

Fig. 8 is a View similar to Fig. 1 but with the card receptacle shift-and the punching being effected in the second position, 7

Fig. 9 is a detail showing certain of the parts illustrated. in Fig. 8,

Fig. 10 is a top, plan view taken on line 10,'1() of Fig. 1 showing certain of the connections tothe carriage,

Fig. 11 is a sectional view takenon linc 1111-of Fig. 1.

Fig.'12 is a view of the record card.

' In the practical-embodiment of theinvention,.where itv isrequired to print six-timerecords per day-successively m a horizontal row, a card carriage or receiver 12 is mounted Upon the rocking of the manual to slide horizontally within the time-recorder, past the printing position, the printing being performed as usual by clock-controlled type-drums 1O againstwhich the card is pressed by a rubber pad 21 operated by a hand-lever 17. There is also a punch, 55, some distance vertically beneath the rubber pad 21, and operated by the hand-lever 17 to pierce a hole in the card when the timerecord is printed.

In more detail, and referring to the draw ings, the invention as here shown is applied. to the well known type of card'clock now on the market and inasmuch as the details of such clocks are well known they will not be described herein. It is sufficient to state that suitable time wheels indicated diagrantimatically at 10, in. Figs. 6 and 7 are provided, which time wheels are driven in the usual manner by the time train. 11 designates a variable card abutment which is adapted to be displaced from time to time, i. e. day to day, under control of the time train mechanism to vary the depth of insertion of the card in the card receiver. The card receiver generally designated 12 is of conventional form and is slidable as a unit on transverse shafts 13 and 14-. Normally the receiver is retained in a left hand position against shoulder 15'by means of a tension spring 16. The mechanism for printing on the record card which is inserted in the card receptacle is of the usual form and includes the printing manual 17 (Fig. 4), which manual, when depressed, is adapted to lower the usual platen dog 18, and through shoulder 19 eventually rocking the platen shaft 20 against that tension of the platen spring until the dog 18 trips off the block 19 and allows the platen 21 (Fig. 6) to move from the retracted position of; Fig. 7 forwardly into contact with the record card. This platen mechanisn'i is of the well known form and requires no further description. The movelTlGllil'Olf the printing manual is utilized to effect the shifting of the card receiver at each operation of the machine as will now be described.

The printing manual 17 through a linkage connects with a rock shaft 23 (Figs. 4- and 5). This rock shaft 23 extends to the outside of the frame of the machine and there through linkage 24c (Figs. 2-3) connected with a pivoted spring retracted cam 25. 1 this cam is rocked from the position shown in Fig. 2 to the position shown in Fig. 3, thereby conpulley which is vertically pivoted on theframe of the machine and connects at its opposite end to aslide piece 30 (Figs. 1, 8 and 10). The slide piece 30 is guided for a transverse sliding movement across the machine upon rods 31. This slide piece is normally maintained in a position to the left as is shown in Fig. l by means of a tension spring 32. Extending and depending downwardly from the slide piece 30 is a plate 33 notched at its lower end to receive a pin 34 carried upon one end of the transversely extending bar 35. It will be understood that upon actuation of the printing manual 17 the slider piece 30 will move to'the right from the position shown in Fig. 1 and will likewise displace the bar to the right, as indicated in Fig. 8. The movement of this bar 35 is utilized for effecting the automatic shifting movement of the card carriage and the record card carried therein.

Briefly, it may be explained that upon the first printing operation on any record card on a given day an imprint is made and a punching is also made in the card. This first punching controls the subsequent positioning of the card carriage. A suitable finger mechanism is provided which is adapted to engage the hole or holes in the record card and when thus engaged in the holes this linger mechanism controls the extent of displacement of the card receptacle. Thus if one hole is engaged by one selector linger, the card receptacle will move one step. If there are two holes in the card and two selector fingers in said holes t-l'iecard receiver will. move two steps. This mechanism will now be described.

In the present machine I have shown six selector fingers respectively marked 36, 37, 38, 39, 40 and 1-1. These fingers are pivoted 42 in trunnion pieces 43 (F 6), which pieces in turn are pivotally mount 1 in a cross-bar a l which is fixed to the card receptacle as shown in Fig. 1. The selector fingers are adapted for an in and out pivotal movement (see Figs'ti and 7), and also, by reason ofthe trunnionmounting of pieces 43, they are also adz't'pted for an ai'igular rocking movement as best shown in Fig. 9. llormally the lingers are kept in substantially vertical position and are yieldingly pressed forward against the record card by means of individual springs 45 which are attached to a suitable notched crossbar -16 fast to the card receptacle 12. Each selecting finger is provided with a hevellcd portion t? (Fig. (5), which normally disposed in the path of the card plane in the card receptacle 12. Upon the insertion of a card in the receptacle all of the fingers will first be rocked rearwardly, the part at serving as a cam tocam the fingers outwardly the. card against the tension of the springs l5. Upon the passage of a hole in a card under the nose 47 the finger will again rock in the anticlockwise direction. Fig. 11 shows the finger 36 in this positioirwitli lit? the right.

nose 47 rocked forward through the perforation 48 in the record card 49. \Vhen the finger 36 is in this position a depending tail or shoulder portion 50 upon the finger is displaced into the path of a lug 51 which is carried by the bar 35. Subsequently, upon the movement of the bar 35 to the right the stop 51 will contact with the shoulder 50 and thereafter the card receptacle will move as aunit to the right in unison withthe movement of the bar 35'. It will be understood that the bar 35 has a fixed extent of movement and that consequently it the finger piece 36 drops into position in a hole in the card the card receiver will move one step to If finger 37 has engaged a hole the card receiver will. move two steps. if finger 38 has engaged a hole it will move three steps and so on. Fig. 11 shows the card receiver 12 on the dotted lines at its original position and in full lines at its final position.

If there is no hole at all in the card sliding piece 30 will take its full movement to the right causing a stop pin 52 to engage a hook 53 carried by the card receptacle 12, thus displacing the receptacle slightly to the right from its normal position. This initial movement is provided to allow the lug 51 to have a slight amount of over-travel 1S to clear the extreme left stop piece 41 when the parts are in normal position, and also to displace the first feeler lingers 36 out of the path of the punch.

The mechanism for effecting successive punchings in the card will now he described. The punch comprises a punch plunger (Fig. 6) slidably mounted in a punch frame 56 and normally spring retracted by the spring 57 which presses against a collar 59 affixed. to the punch plunger. A suitable linger 60 extends in the rear of the collar 59 and is afiixed to a rock shaft 62. Also afiixed to this rock shaft is a linkage 03 (Figs. 7 and 4). One of lhe links 63 of this linkage extends downwardly and at. its: lower end slotted at (35+. to receive a no (35 carried in an arm Gt which is rocked counterclockwise upon the actuation of the printing manual. If the printing manual is depressed to its fullest extent the stud 65 will contact with the end of the slot in the link (33 thereby drawing downwardly on the link, rocking shaft 62 and rocking finger 60 (Fig. 7) thereby forcing the punch fork .1 Wardly through the record card as in tne manner shown in that figure. Inasmuch as before the punch can engage the record card.

This is effected by providing a bevel 67 (Fig. 11) on the forward end of the punch,

. which bevel acts as a cam to displace the finger to the left against the tension spring operation of the printing manual.

45 until the finger assumes the position shown in Fig. 9.

Provision is made for preventing the operation of the printing manual until a card is inserted in the machine, and for preventing the operation of this manual after the last perforation has been made in the card and the last p inting' effected on the card. The means referred to will now be described. Referring to Figs. 1, 6 and 7, bail 70 is pivoted in slide plates '71 which are suitably fixed to the card receptacle 12. This bail is drawn upward by means of a tension spring 72 and is provided with a lug portion 73 which extends over the end of the feeler finger 41 which is at the extreme left. Upon the insertion of a record card this feeler finger 4:1 is cammed backward by the card thereby rocking the bail downwardly. Extending under the bail is a tail 74: of a pawl 75 which is pivoted on a frame portion of the machine. This pawl is adapted to be rocked by the bail shown in Fig. 7. Attached to the lever 66 which is rocked by the printing manual is a stop 76. The pawl 75 will intercept stop 76 if no card has been inserted in the machine and thus prevent the If a card is inserted and the finger piece 41 displaced rearwardlyto its full extent the pawl 7 5 will be moved out of the path of the stop thus permitting the operation of the printing manual. If, a card is inserted in the machine which has its last hole perforation made therein the finger piece 41 will rock forward substantially to the position shown in Fig. 6 causing pawl 7 5 to be displaced to an intercepted position with respect to stop 7 6.

Assuming that an unprinted and unperforated card is inserted into the card-carriage 12, and the hand lever 17 is operated, the actuator-bar 30 will move to the right withoutencountering any of the feeler-levers, since there are no holes in the card. When it encounters the fixed abutment 53 on the ard carriage. 'itwill carry the latter with it towards the right. The stop 52 is situated so as to engage each feeler lever when the card-carriage 12 is near the end of its stroke. Owing to the fact that the f lerlevers can yield laterally, the lever so engaged will he moved to the left relatively to the card-carriage 12 sufiicient-ly to clear the punch, which the continued movement of the hand-lever now causes to advance to ator projection or lug 51 will encounter this rlght hand or first feeler-lever, which is now nearer the card, and will consequently move the card-carriage a greater distance than be fore, this greater distance being equal to the desired spacing of the time-records. The first teeler-lever will miss the fixed stop, but the second lever will encounter it and will thereby be moved out of the way of the punch, which now operates, together with the printing pad, but in the next column on the cardnccessarily an Gut column.

It will be seen that this progressive teed of the card-carriage will occur automatimanual.

cally at each subsequent operation of the machine, the actuator projection always meeting the fcelcr'lcver engaged with the hole punched during the last operation. Consequently the desired sequence of positions is automatically ensured without any attention whatever on the part of the employee, and without regard to the time of day at which the successive operations are performed.

Suitable means are also provided for preventing violent operations of the printing This means include a member depending from hell crank 66 and having ratchet teeth and. camming ed es 81, the lower cams normally engage the stud 82 fixed on the iirame or the machine, and slightly spaced from the ratchet teeth 80 is a stop 83. The arrangement of the parts is such that it the printing manual is thrust downward violently the member carrying the ratchet teeth'SO will swing to such an extent as to engageone or the other of the ratchet teeth with the stop 83. On the other hand, if the manual is not manipulated violently the ratchet teeth 80 pass freely by the stop 83.

Jr though an arrangement has been de- Full ploycd, and in which the i eelers themselves are positively engaged for positioning the card, other arrangements are within the scope ol the invention. For eiianualc, the 'l' ers may be electric contacts which close circuits through the punched holes, the extent of teed of the card being controlled electrically by these circuits.

ll 'hat l claim is:

1. In a recording machine which includes a record sheet holder adapted to receive a record sheet therein and record making devices in operative relation to said holder, with a single means for moving and posi .ioning the sheet holder with relation to the record making devices when making a record indication on said sheet, means for eliminating said first named positioning means and interposing another positioning means when making a succeeding record indication on said sheet.

2. In a recording machine, in combination, a record sheet holder, a record sheet therein, means for printing a record and bed in which mechanical feelers are em-vv punching a hole in said sheet, and a series of fingers each one of which one after the other is adapted in turn to engage a corresponding hole in said record sheet.

3. In a recording machine, in combination, a record sheet holder, a record sheet therein, means for printing a record and punching a hole in said sheet, and a series of fingers each of which is adapted in turn to engage a corresponding hole in said record sheet, and means cooperating with said fingers in turn for successively displacing said holder with relation to the recording means.

4. A time recorder comprisingrecord making devices, a record sheet holder, a

record sheet therein, means for differentially displacing the holder and record sheet with respect to the record making devices, said means comprising feeler fingers with cammingsurtaces cooperating with the record sheet and automatically displaced thereby, said fingers being arranged to successively drop into perforations in said record sheet and form diti'erential stops for the means for displacing the holder.

5. A time recorder comprising relatively displaceable record sheet and record making devices, means for controlling said relative displacement including feeler fingers with camming projections arranged to be displaced directly by the record sheet upon its insertion into the holder.

6. A time recorder comprising a displaceable record sheet holder, a record sheet carried thereby, means for displacing the said holder and diilerential stop devices associated with said holder for controlling the extent of displacement of the same by the last named means, said differential stop devices comprising a plurality of tteeler lingers arranged to successively drop into perform tions in the record sheet.

7. In. a time recorder, a record sheet holder, a record sheet therein, a plurality oi teelcr lingers having camming projections adapted to cooperate with the surface of a record sheet to drop into holes therein, said cannning surfaces being formed to permit the iingersto be displaced into a perforation or displaced out of the perforation by the insertion or withdrawal of the record sheet and to allow free vertical movement of the record sheet.

8. A time recorder comprising in combination, a record sheet holder, a record sheet therein, a plurality of ieeler fingers cooperating with the record sheet and displaced thereby upon the insertion of the record sheet into said holder, said feeler fingers assuming one position when cooperating with the surface of the record card and a difierent position when cooperating with a hole in the card and means controlled by the relative positions of said fingers for con- Ill) trolling the displacement of the sheet holder relative to the record making devices.

9. In a time recorder machine having recording means for making a plurality of successive records variously located upon a record sheet, and means for preventing further recording operations after the record sheet has received its complete set of records.

10. In a record machine with a movable record sheet carrier and record making devices adapted to make records in a plurality of positions on a record sheet in said carrier, means brought into operation by the making of the final record upon the record sheet for controlling the record making devices to suppress the making of further records upon the same sheet.

11. The invention set forth in claim 10 in i which means is provided or releasing the suppressing means upon the 1ntroduction of a new record sheet into the machine whlch new record has not received a complete complement of records.

12. A record machine for making a plurality of records each in a different position on a record sheet and preventing the making of more than one record in the same position, comprising in combination a movable record sheet carrier With means for making records on a record sheet in the carrier and means controlled by previously made records on the sheet for selecting a position of the carrier to present a blank record receiving portion of the sheet to the record making means and means controlled by the insertion of a record sheet having a full complement of records thereon for suppressing the operation of said record mak- 1ng means.

In testimony whereof I hereto aflix my signature.

JOSEPH WILLIAM MILES. 

